Friday, March 15, 2013

Dwarf Broad Leaf Carpet Grass

Broad leaved carpet grass is a very common turf in tropical Australia, especially in the near all-year round wet zones along the NE coast eg near Cairns or Ingham.Also sometimes used around Darwin, it is a very shade tolerant turf, and will handle wet, silty soils, provided adequate water is supplied in the dry season. No irrigaton and it will die out in our region.But it does grow rapidly, and leaves are quite long, and they can be very susceptible to insect damage, especially army worms, who enjoy the lush growth.Curiously, there are no cultivars developed - just carpet grass.However, recently it seems a dwarf variety may have been developed, in of all places, Singapore.https://florafaunaweb.nparks.gov.sg/Special-Pages/plant-detail.aspx?id=1712#There is a lot of information and some photos, but no variety name - except they call it Pearl Grass. It is propagated vegetatively, and has featuered on a green roof project as well as some median strips, where obviously low maintenance is important.While zoysia is common on golf courses and that is very low growing, and can thrive in both low light and low maintenance conditions, it can be slow to establish from sprigs.I need to know more about this variety......so more to come.